Not in a groove yet...

I'm still trying to get in a groove for the summer plans and for this blog.  'Bout the time I do it, it will be time to go back to school!  Of course, adjusting to the schedule change is never easy, especially for the kids.  For me, I am so excited to finally have all kids (grown and young) working or in school all day! Maybe, I'll finally have time for me!  Yea, if me-time consists of having time to paint the house (again - I did that 11 yrs ago when my older boys were in school full time), organize those closets (kids toys that need to be classified as vintage by now), shampoo the carpets (damn dog!), finish the yard work (damn hubby!), or get a job myself (need my OWN money).  No wonder I'm ADD, I have too many things on my to-do list.

I had a lot going on last week, and still not sure how to publicly express it, since I run the risk of the people involved reading this at some point. I still have to learn how to sort things out before posting them... isn't that why I started this blog in the first place?  To help me sort things out and get them out of my head so I would have room to spread the rest of the junk out in there?  This is why I never wrote the autobiography I have dreamed of doing for the last 30 yrs!  I could really use the money, isn't that motivation enough? 

It appears my Facebook updates are pretty active, but still scant in describing all that is going on.   I just don't know how one person (me) can have so much going on in one day, and still get up the next morning. How do I do it?  How do I accomplish the tasks laid out before me each day? How am I able to do all that I do, without self-medicating? I really don't even drink that much if you want to get technical. If you could draw a graph of my stress in comparison to alcohol consumption, the alky line would be way lower than the stress line -guarantee it!

Has God given me an insatiable appetite for chaos? Is there something I'm just not doing right, and  I get to try again and again until I figure it out?  Can I have a vowel please? I'm just not getting it... yet.

Pull up your pants!

We have a new law in town boys, and it goes like this:

Uniforms won't be required of Lake County students next year, but state law will prohibit them from wearing droopy drawers.
A new law that will take effect July 1 requires all Florida school districts to add the so-called "droopy drawers" measure to their codes of student conduct for the 2011-12 school year.
Lake County School Board members Monday night approved their Code of Student Conduct for the coming school year. The code book must go to print immediately. But the law won't take effect for another few weeks.
Therefore, on the recommendation of Superintendent Susan Moxley, board members will add language to the code next month that reflects the state law.
The measure came from state Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, who's been pushing the idea for years.
It requires school boards to adopt a dress code policy that prohibits a student -- while on school grounds during the regular school day -- from "wearing clothing that exposes underwear or body parts in an indecent or vulgar manner or that disrupts the orderly learning environment."
Another revision to the Lake County student code that will come next month will address what board member Kyleen Fischer calls "unnatural hair color." Fischer said she's talking about the variety of hues she sees on school campuses around Lake.
"I'm talking about the fluorescent colors," she said.


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Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - Read the full article at http://www.dailycommercial.com/localnews/061511droopydrawers
Read the mobile article at http://mobile.dailycommercial.com/061511droopydrawers

Here is MY rebuttal -- I felt a need to vent.  

Beware - this could turn into a politically charged rant.

Well, you know - this new law is going to most likely be deemed unconstitutional. So, yea, let's make this LAW to what, generate revenue from fines? Or lawsuits from harassment claims? You can bet there will be frivolous lawsuits in regard to it..  oh I see it happening now.

This very same dress code has actually been in the school's code of conduct, dress code section for Eustis/Mt Dora middle and high schools since about 1999 or before! I don't know about other schools, I only know about the ones my kids attended.  I remember reading about the dress code when my boys were in middle school. (They are 23 and 19 now).  It wasn't fully enforced then because the teachers just didn't have the time or resources to keep on top of such requirements.  Teachers and principals have enough rules to enforce... how are they going to police the dress code, especially in our overcrowded schools or in the tougher neighborhoods? Maybe there should be a check point for attire right beside the metal detector entryways. Lets go ahead and get TSA in here to do pat downs while we're at it. Maybe there should be an unlimited supply of belts to those who can't afford one? Is there really a way to help these kids keep their pants up, or is this another attempt at making the world a prettier place to those who look down their noses at it?

Rest assured, there will be the lower morality bunch, that just doesn't give a damn and wear whatever they want, suckah, and will claim to have constitutional issues with the dress code law. There will be many that claim they can't afford new or fashionable clothes. There will be some that have to rely on hand-me-downs or ill-fitting clothing because of body type, or subjected to take whatever they can get via donations, etc. How do you decide who follows this law??  And what about all of our indigent homeless people?  Some people are lucky to have clothes on at all!  Oh, I can see this getting ugly. Sure, we'd like to single out the ones who do it because they think it's cool, but isn't that freedom of expression?  Like it or not, it's their personal opinion of what they feel makes them look good. How can you challenge that? I don't like it either, but who am I to judge?  Who are you to judge?

The hair color thing will not hold up either...  what if someone has unusually bright orange hair, naturally... there are people out there with it you know.  How can school administration prove it's not their natural color? How do you classify "excessively bright"? Who says hair color is disruptive?? I personally think body odor is more disruptive AND offensive, but how can you police THAT?  

Who has the deciding vote on the "so black that it's blue" hair (Asian) yellow-white hair (Albino) or bright orange (Irish), how can you discriminate based on color?  What if administrators are color blind, and really can't tell what color someone's hair is?  What if a teen's hair color is ok with the parent because THEY themselves have unnaturally colored hair?  How can you disallow a parent's authority? Sure, maybe the young gent with neon green hair is getting your attention more than the auburn haired lady, is their moral character compromised because of it, probably not, it's hair for gosh sake! Maybe law makers should just mind their own business!  Sometimes, people change their hair color as an artistic expression. How can you put laws on that? What if their job required a hair color change? Will they get a ticket if caught in school with it? What about the parent with shocking pink locks that picks up the kid from school? Are they not allowed on campus? 

If the work place doesn't allow unnatural hair color, then people look for an employer that doesn't care about hair color. You can't just up and change schools. Then how do you allow for one's artistic expression without breaking the law?   

So now our civil liberties are infringed, our freedom of expression is snuffed out, and we're crying out as a people to just leave us the eff alone! Find something more important to write laws about! Let's revisit that body odor issue, shall we?  peeee-eeeewww!

 What about private schools? How did they enforce dress codes all these years without it being in the law books? Because they say so, not because some big shot in the school board office said it!  Because if you want to go to a "good school" you gotta pay for it, and look presentable. It's a different set of values. Isn't that how and why we have "classes" of people to begin with? Lower class, middle class, upper class... it's all about means and attainability. How do you enforce laws that segregate classes?

There is a fine line that will constantly be challenged with these new laws  - and the majority of those challengers are probably the same ones that want to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance.  I'm not against the new laws, I just don't see how these laws can be enforced without civil unrest. I have respectable values that I try to instill on my children, to dress appropriately, to not stand out excessively or create unwanted attention, but I also don't want to stifle their self-expression, to grow into who they want to be. That is a value seeded decision, in the hands of me,  the parent. And I have to keep my kids in check. Maybe we can come up with better ways to encourage proper dress, without making it a punitive offense?

 In our times of increasing poverty, some people do whatever they can just to get by. Hell, the way things are going, I may be scrounging for clothes and food in the coming months. My kids may be forced to unwillingly break these dress code "laws" due to a loss of financial means of the parents. What will happen to us, then?  I'm an upstanding, old fashioned, God loving, natural born citizen of these here United States, but I can't afford new clothes and I've lost so much weight from the lack of nutrition, that my pants fall down! What's going to happen to me then? It's gonna be hell trying to enforce this new law. 

Let's get real with the legislation, people, and stop immorality all around - like pornography and adultery amongst our Senators, Presidents and Congressmen, molestation by the Priests and Bishops, thievery and embezzlement of the people from Big Corporations, and the poisoning of our children and elders by Big Pharma. How are our laws against those offenses being enforced?  Our nation is quickly becoming a cesspool for immorality because of our pathetic role models and froo-froo laws that can't be enforced. 

We've become a nation too diverse in its beliefs. Nobody knows what anybody stands for anymore! We've lost the ability to tell right from wrong. When someone is arrested for breaking the law, they cry, "Constitutional Rights!"  while at the same time, dissecting the very Constitution they are trying to stand on! Law makers that make up laws against people because of what they are wearing, what color their hair is, or because someone publicly expressed their unpopular opinion, is unconstitutional. 

It's a shame people have lost so much self-respect to the point that legislators have to impose laws on things as common as what to wear in public. For real, people, let's get our self-respect back, stop whining about how unfair life is, and become respectable citizens again. It's not a perfect world people, grow up, toughen up, pull up your pants, and quit yer bitchin'!  Let God back in the game, and we'll all be straightened out! He's been sitting on the bench watching us flounder and flail long enough!

Sunday Scatterlings.

It's Sunday. The first day after my blog opened. haha  Trying to make this writing thing part of my daily activities.

The littles are at church, hubby is STILL sleeping!  It's 10:42 AM and he's STILL sleeping. Yes, this gets on my nerves, a little, ok, a LOT.  We have things to do! The yard needs mowed, rocks need to be spread about the flower beds and crap needs to be cleaned up out of the side yard. Did I mention my hubby is a pack-rat? Oh, yea, all things combustible!  Cars, motorcycles, generators, large oil burning furnaces, more cars... ugh!  I know when I collect things, they are more practical things like shoes (you gotta have shoes, right?) Spare Christmas gifts (you never know when you're going to have an unexpected visitor or new friend during the holidays). Dishes and housewares (for my older boys that can't seem to keep up with their stuff when they move, so I keep extras packed in boxes for them!) I also collect food. Yes, food. My older boys can come over with their shopping bags, and pick out a week's worth of meals!

See, I have this worry in the pit of my stomach that we will have a hurricane that will knock out all of the 126 grocery stores and gas stations in the 5 mile neighborhood radius, and I have to feed my family! If I have no gas to get to the store, we're doomed! Or my husband will lose his job, and we'll have to scrounge for money to pay the mortgage and utilities, but at least we have FOOD!  Glorious food! (now I know why I have that jiggle!)  I also have this fear of the end of the world, but is a post for another day. Believe me, you don't want to get me started on THAT.  I am trying to keep the faith that we still have a future on this planet, and that I will get to see my littles graduate high school and go off to college (or technical school, that's ok, too.) Anyway, my ADD is kicking in again - hubby is STILL sleeping! It's 10:56 am -- I am going to lose it if he doesn't get up soon.

As time goes on, you will see some crazy things come out of my head, but for now, I am just going to try and keep my cool about this snoring husband of mine... it's 11:00! Damnit! Are you going to get up today! I should've taken myself out for breakfast, then maybe he'd realize he's missing out on a lot of fun things by sleeping it away! Oh wait - the lawn needs mowed first. (no wonder he's still sleeping!)

How did I get here -- you know, on Blogger?

I have wanted to write a blog ever since Prodigy, Compuserve and AOL were vying for everyone's attention! I've never been much of a journal keeper, I think I have commitment issues. Not commitment in life or relationships mind you, but commitments to myself, committing to doing the things I want to do. This will be a learning venture for me to finally do something for me.  I used to write songs and poetry whenever the mood hit and I have long dreamed of writing a novel. But with the drain of family life, my brain has been on snooze for a couple of years now. I hope to wake it up with this new creative outlet. I hope to fulfill some of my dreams - I hope I get used to these damn bi-focals!  That's a lot of "hopes" and not enough dreams. We'll work on that.

So far, the hardest part of this journey, has been trying to come up with a catchy name for my thoughts!  I hope as the days/weeks/months pass, that this blog begins to take on a recognizable shape and form. I don't want to become predictable.  I am, by far, predictable. But I'd like to see some mental organization unfold to give clarity to my jumbled thoughts.
 

While I was trying to name my blog, I wrote quips of words down as they came to me, and thought about what the focus of my online journal would be. Then it hit me, I have no focus - I can't focus! I need an eye exam. Yes, sometimes I dabble with self-diagnosis and on occasion, self-medicate. *wink*  Did I mention that I am a shopaholic? Maybe a Pack-rat, too. It also appears that I have issues with getting fat and growing old. Or is that growing fat and getting old?  I think I have Adult Onset ADD...  I need therapy. :o)

I came up with "juggling and jiggling" as a result of those mixed up thoughts. My mental menagerie.   Crap! There's a good name!

I juggle so many things in my day to day life with 4 kids. I have a crazy schedule driving two little kids back and forth to and from two different schools at four different times of the day, juggling bills with one income,  keeping up with a fairly large home with it's DIY projects, Oh Lord the construction projects! Plus I have the challenges of two grown boys that can't quite keep it together out in the real world, a husband that has major issues with that, and a conscious desire to not become dependent on alcohol to get me through the day!

Thank God I'm not at the "Vodka in my coffee" point - yet.

I love to cook and create delicious dinners for family and friends, so I hope to share a recipe or two thousand as I collect my notes. I try to eat wholesome foods, avoid artificial additives and maintain an intake of healthy supplements, while constantly struggling with keeping the weight off of my aging body and tackling the hot flashes. That's right, menopause is in the air, I have an abundance of graying hair, I am wearing bi-focals or reading glasses and more - not so graceful things - are settling in.  I am trying desperately not to give in to the old age bandit - I'm fighting him/her every step of the way! I got a feeling you'll be hearing a lot about this stuff. -- And there's the jiggle.

As you can see, I couldn't single out just one subject, so my journal may bounce around for a while, but I hope you find something you can relate to as we get to know each other. 
 

Please enjoy reading my sporadic, heartfelt entries. Let them bring you joy, (go ahead, laugh at my expense) or at least share in my misery.  I have lots of ideas, instinctual knowledge, and some hefty opinions that I want to share as well. Maybe something inspiring will come out of this, or maybe I'll find a job instead. 

I'll try to remember to check in regularly - that's my commitment to you. OK, I admit, I have commitment issues - did I say that already?  We'll get into that with more detail as time goes on. I have a lot to say - bear with me as this thing unfolds -- Oh, and I plan to add some pictures, too!

Thanks for reading!